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Iran happy with 'first step'

An Israeli team headed by National Security Adviser Yossi Cohen will leave soon for the United States to discuss the agreement, Netanyahu said Monday. That plan was worked out in a conversation with U.S. President Barack Obama on Sunday night, the Israeli Prime Minister said.

"I would be happy if I could join those voices around the world that are praising the Geneva agreement. It is true that the international pressure which we applied was partly successful and has led to a better result than what was originally planned, but this is still a bad deal. It reduces the pressure on Iran without receiving anything tangible in return, and the Iranians who laughed all the way to the bank are themselves saying that this deal has saved them."

The agreement, Netanyahu said, "must lead to one result: The dismantling of Iran's military nuclear capability. I remind you that only last week, during the talks, the leaders of Iran repeated their commitment to destroy the State of Israel, and I reiterate here today my commitment, as Prime Minister of Israel, to prevent them from achieving the ability to do so."

Tehran has continued its incendiary statements against Israel even in recent weeks. During negotiations in Geneva, Switzerland, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Israeli officials "cannot be even called humans" and referred to Netanyahu as "the rabid dog of the region."

What the deal means

Iranian officials and the P5+1 countries -- the United States, Britain, China, Russia, France and Germany -- hashed out the plan in Geneva early Sunday morning.

It's also unclear whether Congress will agree to the deal. Sen. Lindsey Graham, a prominent Republican on the Appropriations, Armed Services, Budget, and Judiciary committees, called Monday for a new round of sanctions that can be relieved only if Iran dismantles its plutonium reactor.

"We're dealing with people who are not only untrustworthy, this is a murderous regime that murders their own people, creates chaos and mayhem throughout the whole world, the largest sponsor of terrorism. And we're treating them out of sync with who they are. That's what bothers me so much. This deal doesn't represent the fact we're dealing with the most thuggish people in the whole world."

Since the deal is temporary, it remains unclear what world powers might offer -- and demand of -- Iran in the future.

"It's a little too early to break open champagne bottles and put on the party hats on this one," said Middle East diplomatic expert Aaron David Miller. "Its success hinges on whether or not it leads to a bigger agreement to "put Iran's nuclear weapons program to rest."

That the diplomats came to any accord at all represents a momentous budge in a nearly 35-year deadlock marked by distrust, suspicion and open animosity between the United States and Iran, which broke off diplomatic relations after Iran's revolution in 1979.

It was the first such agreement in 10 years of attempts to negotiate over Iran's nuclear program.

Success or setback?

In a televised speech, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani sold it as a win for his negotiators.

"We are pleased after 10 years that an agreement on this level has been reached," he said.

He played up the fact that the deal allows Iran to enrich uranium to a level making it usable as nuclear fuel. During the six months of the agreement, he said, major facilities in Iran will continue doing so. But that level, 5% enrichment, is well below the level needed to make weapons.

Obama said the agreement includes "substantial limitations that will help prevent Iran from creating a nuclear weapon."

The President defended the interim deal, saying in San Francisco on Monday that the United States "cannot close the door on diplomacy."

"Tough talk and bluster may be the easy thing to do politically, but it's not the right thing to do for our security," he said.

Some Republican opponents in Washington agreed with Israeli officials, saying the plan will actually help in Iran's alleged quest for a bomb.

"This agreement shows other rogue states that wish to go nuclear that you can obfuscate, cheat, and lie for a decade, and eventually the United States will tire and drop key demands," Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida said.